Calendar

You’re invited to our 17th Annual Autumn Equinox fundraiser which will again bring together local chefs, restaurants, bakeries, wineries and breweries that have been trailblazers in Sacramento’s local food movement.

Autumn is a wonderful time to focus on boosting overall health and addressing challenges such as exhaustion and low immunity during the cold/flu season, and opportunities such as the prevention of springtime allergies. This class will introduce the plant remedies growing around us this time of year, and how to support the body and mind with herbs, diet, and habits as we transition into the cooler, darker months. The format will include lecture and hands-on activities indoors and outdoors. We will share a seasonal dinner which incorporates many of the ideas discussed in the class.

This course is for those who have completed Candis’ Part A Program or its equivalent with another school or teacher.*
The intermediate curriculum continues to explore Ayurvedic and Chinese healing systems in greater depth.

Let’s turn our food and plant waste into something useful. Composting, or the act of breaking down organic matter, is a valuable tool for sustainable living. In this free class, we’ll discuss the basics of how to start, maintain, and harvest compost for your containers, gardens, yards, or community green spaces. This class is in partnership with Republic Services. All participants will be entered into a raffle to win prizes.

Our Grow Your Groceries Beginning Home Gardener intensive will cover the essential topics to help the new gardener create and maintain a thriving, abundant edible organic garden. Combining indoor presentations and interactive demonstrations and hands-on activities, this course will give you the knowledge and confidence to get out and grow food for you and your family.

Building Confidence, Valuable Leadership Skills for Young Women
Our Roots & Wings after-school program offers an opportunity for young women ages 13 to 18 to deepen their connection to the environment, themselves and each other. Through gardening, cooking and eating together, working with medicinal herbs and plants, doing art and exploring the natural world, we will teach valuable life skills while building a supportive community. Through our interactions with the land, we aim to empower young women to build inner strength and confidence as well as learn valuable leadership skills. The program will be flexible and adapted to meet the interests and passions of the group. Held on the Second Wednesday of the month from 3:30 to 5:30 pm at the American River Ranch. There are two sessions with four gatherings each.

Start your morning off with a pleasant walk around American River Ranch. We will experience a variety of resident birds along with winter, migrant, or summer birds depending on the season. This walk is ideal for beginner to intermediate birdwatchers.

There are many new scientific breakthroughs on keeping our brains healthy. It has been found that watching television and electronic devices can lower the brain activity by 25%. Also, lack of healthy fats in the diet can be detrimental to the brain as well. Sleep stimulates what is known as the “glymphatic system” which is the cleansing mechanism of the brain while sleeping. We will discuss how to optimize your brain health and share recipes of foods and herbs and games that support brain function.

Better knife skills will improve your cooking beyond measure. There’s so much more than just slicing and dicing, and with proper knife techniques, prepping will be easier and quicker. In this hands-on class, you’ll learn the basics, plus simple and beautiful garnishes. Learn how to choose a good knife without spending a fortune, and how to keep your knives sharp and well cared for. You’ll leave with recipes and a bounty of chopped produce ready to turn into dinners for the week. Please bring a chef’s knife, a paring knife and a cutting board to class.

Would you like to build or enhance a school garden on your campus? This one-day intensive for school garden educators will help you consider the best design for your space that will serve students and teachers while creating a dynamic and healthy ecosystem. Learn the nuts and bolts of irrigation, plant selection, needed materials, signage ideas, curriculum resources and more. Come prepared to collaborate and create.

This introductory class will cover simple herbal remedies you can make at home, and when and how to use them. We will discuss herbal teas, tinctures, oils, salves, and herbal foods. Participants will practice medicine-preparation techniques and make remedies to take home.

Hike along the American River Parkway and Cordova Creek to learn about local flora and fauna. Reconnect, build awareness and share the joy and wonders of the natural world together. Enjoy a small picnic in the shade with seasonal fruit provided by the farm. This program is designed for youth (ages 5 through 18) and accompanying adults.

Before synthetic dyes humans used plants, animals, and minerals to color everything. Come learn the ancient art of natural dyes and discover the secrets and gifts of plant color. Color lives in everyday life; find pink inside your lunchtime avocado pit; see yellow in the papery onion husks that line the supermarket bins; call forth oranges and reds from the roadside eucalyptus. In this overview, we will cover the basics of the process such as plant collection, mordanting, fiber choices, extraction and dyeing methods, shibori techniques, ways to shift color after dyeing and how to care for naturally dyed cloth. You will use natural dyes to create designs on four linen napkins to take home for your enjoyment or to give as beautifully handcrafted gifts.

The 4th annual Sacramento Hotels Farm-to-Fork Showcase—Challenge of the Chefs is set for October 30 at the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel—as part of Sacramento Hotel Association’s ongoing community service activities. For 2019, the Farm-to-Fork Showcase will benefit Soil Born Farms. The event will feature: festive farm-to-fork food stations from local hotels/restaurants, friendly competition among the hotel executive chefs, craft beer tastings from local brewers, wine tastings from area vintners, silent auction of gift baskets/prize packages and musical entertainment.

Get a hands on introduction to planting, growing, and planning your garden with native plants. There’s nothing easier to grow than the natives, but it takes just a bit more observation and knowledge to get them to thrive. Journey with me into Sacramento’s native plants and be a part of the growing number of people who contribute to the sustainability of the ecosystem in which we live.

Stocks and broths can simply be a nourishing way to warm your soul, or they can be the starting point for countless classic culinary concoctions. Industry Chef Dave Nelson will lay out the basics for making a clear-white stock which we’ll use to make a hearty chicken soup. Then we’ll explore the strategies behind making a dark, rich and mysterious brown stock, which has countless applications in sauces, soups and stews. Come hungry and kitchen-curious because the fun, food and facts will be engaging and enlightening. Chef Dave is on a mission to change the way you look at food by offering hyper-informative, technique-based classes that focus on simple and fun kitchen education.

Start your morning off with a pleasant walk around American River Ranch. We will experience a variety of resident birds along with winter, migrant, or summer birds depending on the season. This walk is ideal for beginner to intermediate birdwatchers.

Learn how to create striking prints on silk scarves using beautiful fall leaves! This hands-on class will cover the basics of eco-printing from mordant choices to plant selection; how to roll or fold for optimal prints; steaming versus boiling and more. Come and experience the magic of nature’s colorful designs to reveal anywhere from the coral red shades left by eucalyptus leaves, the pale pink of Japanese maple, or the black tinged prints left from leaves dipped in iron. You will eco-print on two silk scarves to take home for your enjoyment or give as beautifully handcrafted gifts.

This hands-on class will delve deeper into the art and science of herbal remedies. We will discuss approaches to combining herbs and effectively extracting medicinal properties and broaden our discussion and practice in making herbal preparations, including creams and advanced tinctures. Students will take home products of their own creation.

Learn how to make seasonal and sensational side dishes for your holiday feast such as caramelized roasted butternut squash with rosemary and shallots, winter greens gratin, maple-glazed oven-roasted root vegetable medley and rustic apple sage stuffing. Enjoy delicious samples in class and take home the recipes for your farm fresh Thanksgiving meal.

Many medical traditions view the functioning of the digestive system as the root of health. Current science supports this concept, as we continue to understand the complex role of digestion, including the microbiome, on physical, mental and emotional well-being. This class will focus on building a healthy digestive system through herbs, diet and positive habits. The format will include lecture, herbal recipes and hands-on herbal preparations to take home.

Discover how to make beautiful succulent wreaths while making your own to take home. You will learn how to prepare cuttings, how to care for your wreath to keep it beautiful year after year and how to use different design principles to create a wreath that can be hung up or used as a holiday centerpiece. Students should bring a hot glue gun and 5-10 glue sticks.

Each season brings unique challenges and opportunities for our well-being. This class will offer techniques for using herbs, diet, and good habits for optimizing health and avoiding illness in the colder, darker months of the year. The class will include lecture, demonstration and hands-on creation of herbal remedies for yourself or for holiday gifts.

Colorful bean soups, apple spice cake, or hot pepper jelly are just some of the seasonal possibilities that make easy gifts in a jar. In this combination hands-on and demonstration class, we will look at a number of different gifts you can make in a mason jar and sample the recipes. We’ll talk about seasonal canning possibilities, and the different fruits and vegetables that are available in the fall and winter – apples, squash, beans and more. Everyone will assemble a layered jar of bean soup ingredients to take home.

Enjoy a day of inspiration, nature and rejuvenation at Soil Born Farms without leaving the city. A delicious, organic lunch will be served and an afternoon tea. Come make the connection between food, health and the environment. You will feel refreshed and motivated to take good care of YOU! Presenters include: Maxine Barish-Wreden, MD, ABIHM, Rev. Candis Cantin, Daylin Wade, Ann Sibbet, Terese Hollander Esperas, Summer Ward, Kellan MacKay and Janet Zeller
The $75 price includes organic lunch, snacks and beverages. Enjoy the day with a friend: Register two people by Dec. 31 for $100 (save $50). Space is limited. Adults only.